Andrew Young to Speak at AU Commencement
Greg Wilson/Anderson Observer
Civil Rights leader Andrew Young is scheduled to speak at Anderson University’s Spring Commencement exercises Friday at 9 a.m. on the school’s Alumni Lawn.
South Carolina’s largest private university will hand out 734 degrees at the weekend’s three ceremonies. A doctoral hooding ceremony takes place Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the G. Ross Anderson Jr. Student Center Theater. Graduate students will receive their diplomas on Saturday, at 10 a.m., also on Alumni Lawn. The keynote speaker for that ceremony is Dr. Anil Kumar Palla, an entrepreneur and global education leader.
Young’s career includes ministry, civil rights activism, politics, diplomacy, and international humanitarian work. He served as a United Church of Christ pastor in Alabama and Georgia, and in 1961, joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), where he became a close associate of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A keen strategist, Young played vital roles in major civil rights campaigns across the South and directed the Citizenship Schools, focusing on literacy and leadership training for African Americans. Young also contributed to the drafting of President Lyndon Johnson’s Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
In 1972, Young became the first African American elected to the Unted States Congress from Georgia since Reconstruction. After serving three terms, in which he focused on social justice, economic equality, and anti-militarism, President Jimmy Carter appointed him U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations in 1977, where Young worked for human rights and economic development, particularly in Africa and the Caribbean. He was also an aggressive opponent of apartheid in South Africa. Later, as Mayor of Atlanta from 1982–1990, he attracted international investment, supported minority-owned businesses, and helped position Atlanta as a future Olympic host city.
Young later co-founded GoodWorks International, focused on promoting development in Africa and the Caribbean, and established the Andrew J. Young Foundation to support global human rights and education initiatives. He also co-chaired Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Games in 1996 and authored several influential books. As a professor and public speaker, he has remained a powerful voice for equality and justice.
A doctoral hooding ceremony takes place Friday at 5:30 p.m. in the G. Ross Anderson Jr. Student Center Theater. Graduate students will receive their diplomas on Saturday, at 10 a.m., also on Alumni Lawn. The keynote speaker for that ceremony is Dr. Anil Kumar Palla, an entrepreneur and leader in global education who currently serves as the founder and CEO of University HUB, a strategic Anderson University partner.
